7. PROJECT SUMMARY This proposal is a renewal application for a second 5-year National Research Service Award Institutional Research Grant to support a training program in HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (SOM), entitled the ?Johns Hopkins HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Sciences Training Program.? The program is led by Director Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, and Deputy Director Shruti Mehta PhD, MPH. We are requesting support for 3 pre- and 4 post-doctoral trainees, which represents an increase of 2 post-doctoral trainees from our prior funding period. The program mission is to train pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows to become leaders at the forefront of highest priority HIV research with advanced competencies and state-of-the-art skills in three training tracks: HIV Epidemiology and Implementation Science Methods including training in (1) Populations and Study Designs, including identification, recruitment and retention; (2) Measurement issues in HIV populations, including innovative methods for surveillance, recruitment, estimation of HIV prevalence and incidence, (3) Inference techniques, including modern analytical methods for causal inference and mathematical modeling; and (4) Synthesis and Implementation of research findings to public health practice; HIV Clinical and Laboratory Sciences including training in (1) the epidemiology, prevention and treatment of major co- infections with HIV including hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and tuberculosis; (2) epidemiology and pathogenesis of HIV and age-associated co-morbidities; and (3) Measurement and use of genetic, virologic and immunologic factors that can inform our knowledge of the pathogenesis and transmission of HIV; HIV Prevention Sciences including how to prevent and reduce the prevalence and incidence of HIV through training in (1) Design and Analysis of HIV biomedical, behavioral and combination prevention trials, including treatment as prevention research (TasP), oral and topical PrEP trials, HIV vaccine trials and passive immune-therapy trials, and (2) Community-based population-level approaches to HIV prevention and control beyond individual behavior change. Our program, which is fully integrated through the JHU Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) has resulted in a rich and interactive environment for trainees working in HIV augmented by the exceptionally innovative, productive and collaborative HIV research conducted by epidemiological, clinical, prevention and implementation scientists throughout Johns Hopkins BSPH, and SOM.